INDIANAPOLIS – USA Track & Field on Thursday announced the Team USA lineups that will compete at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships, March 29-30 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Team USA will be led by Deena Drossin, who won the silver medal, and Colleen De Reuck, who captured the bronze medal, in the senior women’s 8 km race at the 2002
World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland. Their performances, which led the U.S. squad to the team silver medal, marked the first time that two U.S. women had won individual World Cross Country medals at the same event since 1970, when Doris Brown won the individual title and Maureen Dickinson was the runner-up. Team USA’s performance in Dublin was the best performance by a women’s 8 km squad since finishing as the runner-up at Boston in 1992.

Two-time 12 km cross country champion Meb Keflezighi will lead the men’s long course squad, along with 2002 U.S. 12 km runner-up Abdi Abdirahman. Team USA’s short course squads will be led by 2003 men’s and women’s runners-up Dan Wilson and Collette Liss.

Team USA’s junior squads will be led by 2003 champions Bill Nelson of the University of Colorado and Clara Horowitz of Duke University.

A total of six races will be held at the World Championships in the following divisions: senior men’s 12 km and 4 km, senior women’s 8 km and 4 km, junior men’s 8 km and junior women’s 6 km.

Athletes earned their places on the U.S. team during a two-day trials competition that mirrored the format used at the World Championships. At the USA Cross Country Championships February 15-16 in Houston, Texas, three championship races were held each day with the top-six finishers in each competition qualifying for the trip to Lausanne.

Drossin qualified for the U.S. team by winning her sixth U.S. women’s 8 km national title (1997, 1999-2003) in Houston, easily defending her crown in 29 minutes, 6 seconds. Drossin is now all alone in second place on the all-time women’s list for victories in that event. She entered the competition in Houston tied with National Track & Field Hall of Famer Doris Brown, who won five titles (1966, 1968-71). Drossin also won the U.S. 4 km title at the 2000 U.S. Championships and is the only woman in history to win the short and long course titles at the same event since the short course race was added in 1998.

After winning the silver medal at last year’s World Cross Country Championships, Drossin is considered one of the favorites to win America’s first world cross country title since Lynn Jennings won her third consecutive crown at Boston in 1992. Drossin’s possibilities of winning the world title increased recently with the announcement that defending women’s world cross country long course champion Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain has opted not to defend her title in Lausanne in order to prepare for the London Marathon.

Drossin proved her fitness March 8 in winning her fourth consecutive USA 15 km road title at the Gate River Run in 47:15. Her performance bettered her previous American record set at the same event in 2002 (48:12) by 57 seconds.

Other members of Team USA’s 2002 silver medal winning women’s 8 km squad competing in next week in Lausanne include last year’s bronze medal winner Colleen De Reuck, 23rd place finisher in Dublin Milena Glusac, Elva Dryer (28th) and Amy Rudolph (31st). Rudolph will compete on Team USA’s short course squad after finishing fourth in that event earlier this year in Houston. Other members of the U.S. women’s long course team include Katie McGregor and Sara Wells. Additional members of the U.S. women’s 4 km squad include Collette Liss, Ann Marie Brooks, Sarah Toland, Molly Austin and Heather Sagan.

Team USA’s 12 km men’s squad will be looking to get back on the medal stand after grabbing the team bronze medal at Ostend, Belgium in 2001. Veteran performers from that team Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman and Nick Rogers will lead the charge, along with the University of Colorado’s Edwardo Torres, who placed third at the USA Championships. Chad Johnson and David Cullum are making their first trips to the World Cross Country Championships.

2003 USA men’s long course champion Alan Culpepper, and his wife Shayne, this year’s women’s short course champion, have opted not to compete in Lausanne. 2003 U.S. men’s short course champion Robert Gary also has chosen not to compete.

2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
USA Team Roster (Alphabetical by event)